Heretofore, the delivery of caps for application to the tops of containers has been accomplished by gravitationally feeding the caps downwardly along an inclined chute onto jigs movable along a horizontal path relative to the inclined path. Due to the inclination of the chute, force is exerted by the caps against each other down the chute. In accordance with the conventional feed chute, caps are delivered in a straight line, coming to rest in the pick-off position on a centrally-located finger. The bottom cap is picked off in the same direction as the force exerted by the caps. Due to high speeds of over 400 caps per minute, there is a great deal of pressure exerted on the bottom caps. This pressure creates a tendency when one cap is picked off for the next cap to be pushed out by the force from all of the caps behind it. If more than one cap pops out of the chute at one time, the production line may be interrupted or caps may disadvantageously accumulate on the floor.
Furthermore, conventional feeders generally experience pulsating movement back through the line of caps in the chute when large diameter caps are being fed. The pulsating is caused as the bottom cap alternates between waiting and moving when the jig moves by the pick-off position. These pulsations add to the pressure exerted against the bottom cap, further aggravating the problem of extra caps being ejected.
It is the purpose of this invention to so design a cap feeding structure as to insure that only one cap at a time is picked from the chute by the jig at high speeds and to permit higher speeds of operation.